Backup HDD Pops Like a Balloon & New Drive Advice

I

irongiant14

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Nov 15, 2003
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Hi, everybody.

I had been using a 2TB Hiatchi drive for backups and music recording and it just failed. The drive was divided into two equal partitions: one for computer/data backup and one for recording sessions.

The backup partition was almost full, and when I carelessly let an automated backup happen overnight, the partition got filled to the brim, started clicking, and the drive never recovered. I deleted a large folder to free 7 GB but the drive is very slow now and wonky. Luckily, I have a backup of this backup, so I tried reformatting, but it failed.

It seems obvious that the reason the drive failed is that it got too full. [Too bad because the recording partition was only 25% full.] But is this the case? Is filling a partition always fatal to a drive? How full can I let my drives get? Is there a certain ratio of useablility? I almost feel like this Hitachi was a balloon that got overblown and popped! :eek:

While we're at it, I'll ask for recommendations to replace this drive. I need something big enough to be my entire data universe but fast enough to record on. And reliability is a concern. I read on these forums that 3TB was the sweet spot now. Looks like I need over 1TB for my data partition. If I make a 2 TB partition, on a 3 TB drive, is there anything I need to know, in terms of technical difficulties or performance issues.

I considered the WD Blacks for the 5 year warranty, but then I wondered, isn't that overkill for a backup drive, and expensive? My budget is ideally around $125.00, though i could go higher and would love to pay $100, if there's something out there to satisfy my conditions. Going by user reviews online is confusing, with warnings against every brand.
 
It seems obvious that the reason the drive failed is that it got too full.
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I disagree. There is no harm in filling a drive. Your drive was defective before the fill. You just never accessed the defective part. It could have even been been DOA. Did you do a full format before you used the drive. I recommend this on all hard drives because there is a non zero chance that you will receive a DOA drive.

Is filling a partition always fatal to a drive?
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Remember that people put their drives in raid. And in RAID5/6 every sector is always full.
 
Always use hdtune pro to do a full disk scan when you buy a hard drive for backup purpose, there might be bad sectors you won't know unless you do a complete format, but that's very slow and no one would have the patience to run that.
 
Always use hdtune pro to do a full disk scan when you buy a hard drive for backup purpose, there might be bad sectors you won't know unless you do a complete format, but that's very slow and no one would have the patience to run that.
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I do a 4 pass badblocks test on each drive I receive home or work. Yes even 4 TB ones that take over 40 hours to complete. After a drive passes this test I am pretty confident that my data will be readable.
 
@ drescherjm, Thanks for the reply. It's a relief to know there's no harm in filling my drives, confirming that things aren't always what they appear to be.

I'm almost certain I did a format, when I got it in 2011, though, when I made the partitions. I'll make sure to do a full one on my new drives.
 
drescherjm said:
I do a 4 pass badblocks test on each drive I receive home or work. Yes even 4 TB ones that take over 40 hours to complete. After a drive passes this test I am pretty confident that my data will be readable.
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+1 for this bit of time to start with but saves a MASSIVE headache down the line!
 
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